Auckland? Why Auckland?

There are many 'received wisdoms' in New Zealand tourism. One of
the more annoying of these is "to see New Zealand, you need to get out
of Auckland". Many itineraries, put together by junior people around
the world with little product knowledge and very little client contact,
follow this precept and shoot people out as fast as they can to those
great uncommercial parts of "real New Zealand", such as Waitomo or
Rotorua. Yes, well....

What this has done over the years is
leave us Aucklanders with relatively few inflexible, fixed tourism
products and a lot of unspoilt uncrowded places in which to enjoy
ourselves. Auckland has become a breath of fresh air in an
increasingly marketed, segmented, regulated, Qualmarked,
cycleway-enthusiastic and eco-bandwagonned country.

We had
one of Spain's top luxury agents here earlier this month. She
absolutely loved her two days in Auckland and wants all her clients to
spend time here. Why?

- the Hauraki Gulf is an unspoiled,
undeveloped, incredible resource for Aucklanders and 'light-footprint'
luxury travellers both. Add classic or modern launches, yachts or a fleet of waka and it really is paradise

- Waiheke Island and the excellent work done by Ananda Tours over the years to present it properly are delightful

- Delamore Lodge on Waiheke Island is an extremely high quality wonderful and sophisticated sanctuary

-
the West Coast, especially with phenomenal Karekare and Whatipu beaches
is a wild, natural, beautiful resource. On walks here I have met maybe
5-6 other people in 8km, whereas in Abel Tasman (without a doubt
beautiful) I have seen 60-100 other people in a similar distance

Add
to this our service - which includes a priority channel arrival at
Auckland Airport, a mayor as a guide, top landscape gardener, art
expert, rally driving supremo, helicopter flying lessons, top real
estate broker, ex-chairman of the NZ wine exporters association as
interesting people and activities, plus the standard tourism product
widely available here, superb restaurants and some decent
accommodation. And it's looking pretty special.

Another
agent, from Russia this time, is looking at using Auckland for an
islands and beach adventure for a VIP group. Not the Coromandel, not
Northland.

Certainly, from a luxury perspective, Auckland is
really quite an exciting place. But, as always, how exciting it is
depends on how exciting your hosts are.

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